Glendale Community College has been granted provisional approval for a new Baccalaureate Degree Program (BDP) in Restorative Justice and Rehabilitation late last month in a review by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.
Provisional approval status is awarded to programs that meet or exceed the state’s Education Code requirements, as well as criteria based on institutional stability and capacity, labor market demand, program and curriculum design, and equitable student outcomes. Before the approval process can be finalized, the new BDP will face scrutiny by the CSU/UC review board to assess whether the degree program overlaps with existing instruction. GCC President Dr. Ryan Cornner spoke to El Vaquero about the program and what to expect from the next steps in the process.
“The restorative justice [program] is 100% novel. It’s a never-been-done program that we hope can serve as first a state model that other counties can adopt, and then a national model,” Cornner said. The novelty of the programs is not only a point of pride for President Cornner and those involved in its creation, it will also be the decisive quality in determining the program’s final approval. Among the remaining challenges in the review process is the Non-Duplication Analysis that the CSU and UC systems, along with the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities (AICCU), will evaluate. This means that GCC must substantiate that the proposed program’s curriculum will not overlap with existing programs that are in place at other 4-year institutions. “As I said, we believe it is completely novel, but that doesn’t mean that other folks won’t have different perspectives, and we might have to work through those perspectives,” Cornner explained.
“The next steps: we have our curriculum model, now we have to finalize it, we need to submit for accreditation, and we need to get past the review process with the Cal-state [colleges],” Cornner described.
The new BDP in Restorative Justice and Rehabilitation can receive full approval status by the end of May 2025, but that is not the end of the process. First, the program is awaiting approval from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC), as well as the CSU/UC Program Duplication Review currently underway. The final step in the approval process goes through the Board of Governors (BOG) office where the BOG President signs off. Upon reaching full approval status, it will be submitted to the BOG, which should happen in either May or July 2025, tentatively and depending on concerns or challenges. Cornner clarified, “It should be noted that this is the timeline if all challenges go well. If the challenges are more significant then it could be longer.” It is still unclear if, or exactly when, students may be able to see this program come to fruition.
Glendale Community College, and the faculty involved in designing a curriculum, have been working closely with their partners at LA County Probation. “What makes this program even unique amongst the baccalaureate programs that have been proposed in the state, is that we have this partner that has basically said, ‘train our workforce,’” Cornner said. He also explained that LA County Probation aims to upscale their existing workforce and set a standard for their future workforce, by synthesizing their expertise and the demand they see in the field with the innovative curriculum design team at GCC who believe in restorative justice and who said we will partner.
“I have to say, one of the proudest days I had was watching the probation team come and express what their needs are and watching our faculty create curriculum live,” Cornner emphasized.
When asked if he believes in restorative justice, Dr. Cornner said he did and went on to establish his background in social work, insisting that the roots of social work and social justice are one and the same. He said education is the basis for improving not only the lives of those affected by the justice system, but also the people that are working toward a more just and equitable society through careers in the restorative justice and rehabilitation fields. In turn, Cornner suggested, the cooperation between community institutions and agencies, like GCC and LA County Probation, will promote individuals focused on helping change and improve the community. “I view education as a macro-practice of social work,” he said. “We are trying to change people’s lives, and through changing individuals we’re trying to shift full communities and families.”
Taylor Wiegand can be reached at [email protected].